Articles - Page 212 of 258 - The Voice of Job Seekers

How Can Career Services Engage College Students Through Social Media?

Editor’s note: Alexandra Levit, is a member of the Career Advisory Board answered some questions . I interviewed Alexandra Levit last fall about another survey conducted on behalf of the Career Advisory Board, DeVry University, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). She offered insight and advice on how college career centers, students, and employers can engage more effectively on social media.

Mark: It seems as if Career Centers pass the eye and enthusiasm test initially in their use of social media, but not particularly the ear test because of the lack of conversations and engagement. Is that a fair assessment of this study?

AL: That’s a great way of putting it, Mark. Although social media awareness and usage skyrocketed in recent years, career services professionals leverage social networks in a similar fashion to email – as one-way communication devices to share career center-related information with constituents. Only about 25 percent of respondents use social media to engage in back-and-forth advisement sessions with students and only 20 percent of respondents engage with students daily on social networks. This is a wasted opportunity.

MD: Since enthusiasm of the use of social media does not equal success, does the disappointment continue of the adaption of social media?

AL: I do see some disappointment, yes, especially as the centers try to set up shop (or their own pages) on the social networks. Advisers may set up groups and neglect them as static entities, thinking that “if we build it, people will come.” We know that this is not the case on social media. Students will join and regularly visit a center’s group or page because it continually provides value to them and a chance to engage productively with people they know. If the centers understand this, they will put more focused effort into their online properties, will attract more engagement, and thus will receive more positive reinforcement.

MD: Can we assume that this process of career service/student engagement will take time since building an online reputation is a process itself?

AL: It absolutely takes time. I like to tell people that my blog Water Cooler Wisdom was launched in 2004 and only now that it’s 9 years old does it have a really terrific following. Everyone likes to try their hand at online engagement, but only a handful actually stick around long enough to engender trust and credibility. Career centers have to be patient. Slow and steady wins the race.

MD: What will really change the average student’s perception of career services brand universally?

AL: I think this will require a critical mass of career centers keeping up with the times and showing students how they are relevant from freshman year to graduation and beyond. Eventually, word will trickle down to students just beginning university that career services can be a major asset. I think we are a long way from this happening, but every bit of awareness helps.

MD: Why wouldn’t career services use a model like TweetMyJobs to bring opportunities mobile but still use career services as the main contact?

AL: The most sophisticated centers are doing this in combination with other strategies. The key is, I think not to do anything in a vacuum, but to present a uniform online communications approach for students (and other constituents) that showcases job opportunities as well as other offerings.

MD: What suggestions would you have to provoke meaningful dialogue between career services and students?

AL: Instead of “friend blasting,” career services professionals should connect selectively – sending unique and highly personalized invitations to each individual based on compatibility. The purpose is not to collect contacts, but rather to view, comment and converse on postings so that advisers can develop relationships that will eventually move offline. A student is much more likely to attend an event or seek in-person advice from an adviser he or she has already learned to like and trust through social media.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Stop Playing Safe, Conversation with Margie Warrell

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Margie is a Forbes columnist, executive life coach, and bestselling author. She draws on her background in psychology and business to get to the heart of what holds people back in work, love and life. An adventure traveler and the mother of four children, Margie is a sought after keynote speaker and media commentator (Today Show, Fox, CNBC) with clients ranging from NASA to the UN Foundation. She was more than interesting as she is firm in her belief as people step out of his or her comfort zone whether shy or introverted, they will be more liked, respected, and admired.

Job seekers often need a nudge to share their special attributes or strengths that sell themselves as the one to hire. If this is you, you should listen to this conversation.

This is an outline of our conversation:

1) The core message of finding and unlocking courage and the path to this book

2) Where do you see job seekers fall short in selling themselves?

3) What is false humility really and how it is a disservice to character and the impression it leaves employers

3) The suggestion that there should be a healthy balance between bragging about others and then yourself.

4) Would this strategy be useful during interviews as really, the job seeker is the understood focus? This could really show how the job candidate is a true team player without saying, “I’m a real team player?”

5) “You teach people how to treat you. Set your boundaries or others will set them for you”.

My first response was, “AMEN!” How would this apply to the job seeker who is networking and interviewing to get hired.

6) You say, “It’s who knows what you know.” “Be relevant with what you share with people.” If this is not done, then it becomes a major obstacle to a job candidate, doesn’t it?

7) The damage of “playing safe”‘ really does to someone’s reputation and brand

Please note that the interview was cut short by one minute due to my growing sound editing experience. Otherwise, enjoy our conversation!

by Mark Anthony Dyson

The Values of Workplace Diversity and Inclusion

Editor’s note: Ivy Liu (@MandatoryPoster) is the guest writer today. Her website is easybusinessposters.com

One of the most heartening employment trends in recent years has been many employers’ movement growing towards giving lip service toward the complementary goals of diversity and inclusion in the workplace — whether led there by values of social justice or by the practical need to find qualified workers. After all, an increasingly competitive global market no longer leaves US employers with the luxury of excluding significant parts of the talent pool from their search.

As employers become more attuned to the need to select their workforces based on talent, even if it means looking in areas that may previously been overlooked. It is more important for employers to communicate the value of diversity and inclusion throughout their organizations. That means clearly conveying the message – not just in boilerplate statements in the annual report, but also as part of the day-to-day communications with managers, supervisors and human relations staff on how implementing these values brings practical benefits to the entire organization.

I want to suggest one way to show this. In any workplace, you will find bulletin boards displaying an array of government-required notices and posters. It may be some while since you’ve looked at them, but if you examine them carefully, you’d find they did more than merely serve notice of various state and federal labor law posters that employers must comply. In fact, in many of them, you’ll find the nation’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Admittedly, these notices of legal requirements don’t have the same classical or poetic resonance as phrases like “e pluribus unum” (Latin for “from out of many, one”) or the Declaration of Independence’s far ahead of its time and still-striking proclamation that we are all “created equal,” but the posters on their own prosaic way express the same values.

If you look beyond the bureaucratic-sounding boilerplate, perhaps you’ll see expressions that our nation is committed to fighting the injustice of unfair treatment on the basis of race, gender, nationality, religion, age, disability and other diversity and inclusion factors. You will find commitments to safety, health, equal pay and other factors that help create a decent workplace.

You may even find a surprise, as I recently did. As news accounts were breathlessly reporting and analyzing a recent Supreme Court’s decision allowing police to take DNA samples from those they arrest, I happened to notice an EEOC poster’s description of a 2009 law likely known to a few people, the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act. It bars employers from requiring workers to provide genetic data, treating them unequally based on such data, or disclosing such data to others.

The lesson I draw from the bulletin board posters is fairly basic: the values of diversity and inclusion in the workplace are not only issues of compliance with government mandates (although smart employers surely understand they need to pay attention to them on those grounds), but also ways to build better, more efficient and humane workplaces. Properly understood and carried out, these values will build mutual respect and understanding among co-workers, and make our nation a better, strong place.

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